#8 Thanksgiving Break Recap
11/21/2017
NEWS ALERT!!!
Zoodisc will be partnering with, our new sponsor, VC Ultimate on jerseys this year. We’ll be going back to classic jersey designs, and they’ll be available soon to friends, fans, and family.
Keep an eye out for the upcoming holiday sale!
What the Coaches Learned This Fall
We are beginning to figure out how to run a nine-month ultimate program. Mistakes in the past include deciding on a team too early (or too late), playing in too many fall tournaments, and not having a clear vision of where we want to be in November.
Here is what we have learned in the last few months:
1) Everyone needs to play in the summer and fall. We spent a lot of time getting our talented rookies up to speed, literally, during fall scrimmages. And almost every returner played on some sort of summer club team and a handful qualified for Club Nationals. The difference shows.
2) Throw, lift and read. These three words have become sort of our mantra. Everyone can always become a better thrower. A lifting program is the foundation of any serious athlete. And reading about sports psychology or mental toughness helps athletes leap ahead of many competitors without leaving their room. Our first suggestion is Mind Gym by Gary Mack. One of our players sent us a recent text about it:
As I go further into the book, I can relate to a lot of the examples that he gives about the mental traps I set up for myself, (such as) being coach-conscious or self-conscious rather than being task-conscious.
If we are not training their mental game, we are not doing our job.
3) Our captains are invaluable. The coaches have been absent more that we would like and Brett, Chris, and Tannor have stepped up throughout the fall season. We knew that they were going to work hard but the depth of commitment has enabled the Flying Fortress of Zoo to sail along with only a few bouts of turbulence.
4) How you show up is just as important as if you show up. We do not want want ultimate to be the entirety of these young men’s lives (just maybe 85%, joking!). We know that is not healthy for them, or the people around them. With that said, when they are with the team, or making time for their extra workouts, we ask them to show up fully. We have to continue to emphasize this.
What the Players Did This Fall Off the Field
These two contributions to the community have us welling with pride, and as the season continues, we hope this will only grow.
Chris Bartoli, Alex Gekas and Gene L’heureux volunteered at Jim Pistrang’s middle school league this fall. They taught the kids the basics of our sport once or twice every week. Jim wrote in his end-of-the season thank-you:
I’d like to formally thank you for your contribution this fall to the Amherst Ultimate program. Your willingness to volunteer and your presence on the field were extremely valuable and helpful. You all showed a real talent for working with the kids and you were great role models . . . I’ll also be sure to mention your contribution to our Town Manager and to the Umass Chancellor the next time I see them. I am hoping this can become an annual fall tradition.”
We are too, Jim.
More Zoo volunteers answered the call from Farmer Dan Kaplan of Brookfield Farm. On the night of Thursday, November 9, the temperature went down to near 10 degrees. Dan sent out a last minute call for workers to harvest 8,000 lbs of cabbage, 4,000 lbs of celery root, 1000 lbs of celery heads and 500 lbs of carrots and parsnips each. He needed them from 1–4 pm the next day, not a time that most college kids want to pick veggies in the freezing cold. But the following guys did: Chris Bartoli, Alex Gekas, Alex Donadio, Dustin Baglow, Solomon Maerowitz-McMahan, Jared Madore, Jack Staples, Gabe Schmidt, Philson naquines, Liam Gallinagh, Mike Barry and Spencer Pitkin.
Recent Competition Updates
Mixed Regionals
This year our national association, USA Ultimate, offered a College Mixed Regionals for the first time. Ultiworld has a more complete recap but here is the last point of the finals.
A special thanks to Hannah Baranes for coaching this team and congrats to all the Umass players who won the title!
Our Round Robin
For many reasons outside of our control, we were not able to run the fall tournament that we envisioned during the summer. However, enough teams showed up for a full day of competition on Sunday, November 5. We divided our team into Team Russ and Team Tiina, and both teams went 4–1 on the day. Team Tiina beat Northeastern’s A squad and then Team Russell beat Team Tiina in the last game of the day. (In case anyone cares, Team Russell is 2–0 over Team Tiina in the last 2 years.) It was great to meet and greet so many parents on the sidelines.
Classic City Classic
The competitive season ostensibly starts for us in two weeks, December 2-3, although none of these games count towards the spring season. The A team is flying to Atlanta for CCC, a tournament hosted by UGA in Athens, GA. We look forward to seeing how we work together as a team. This is an important tournament for us because it helps form our template for the work we will do this winter.
D Team Plans
This year’s developmental team will be coached by Will Thornton ’17. Will worked with Russell and Tiina throughout the fall and will be taking over officially in early spring. (It should be noted that all 3 coaches spent the fall working with everyone together. This will continue throughout the winter and only when the schedules start to diverge, will the players be separated.) Will is putting together a strong regional schedule for his team, including some overnight weekends. We are all excited to watch this team get even stronger in the coming months
Quote of the Week
This week’s quote comes from our friend and teacher Dr. Alan Goldberg. His website is an amazing resource.
Again, it matters HOW we show up.
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